HK Chowdown episode 2: bull market lunch

Pin It

The Chowhounds met up again for lunch today, this time at a very bull market venue: Caprice. Our out-of-towners had never visited the restaurant before, and since we do know one of the chefs (not to mention the maître d' and the sommelier), it was a perfect opportunity to have our guest hounds try out this Michelin 2-star venue.

When we arrived at 1:30pm, the restaurant was completely full and ours was the last table to be filled. Global financial/economic crisis?! Recession?! Benchmark index is down by more than 60% since its high 1 1/2 years ago, and the bluest of blue chips is off more than 70% over the same period, you say? By the looks of things today you would never know it. It is as if we were isolated in vacuum, or on another planet...

I brought a bottle each of white and red to share with the group, based on Sebastien's suggestions after browsing through my inventory. We started with the 2005 Vincent Girardin Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Morgeot Vieilles Vignes. Nose of flint, toasty oak, hint of chalk. Ripe and sweet on the nose, and buttery. Nice acidity balance and not too sweet on the palate, although it was a bit hot and spicy on the finish. Nice to drink now. This was paired with the first 3 courses, which were:

Marennes oysters d'une bouchée, Iberico ham with sour cucumber and pomodoro purée - this really was just a mouthful... The small Fine de Claires oyster was cooked for just a few seconds so that it's neither raw nor fully-cooked, then wrapped in jamon iberico for contrasting flavors. I must admit that I wasn't too excited by this, as I really prefer the full-on flavors of freshly shucked oysters. The sour cucumber also didn't do much for me...

Jerusalem artichoke velouté, duck liver royale and crispy ham - thankfully the velouté was relatively light and not "full strength". The duck liver was so nice - soft, bouncy and sweet. The finely chopped sweet artichoke topping was something different altogether...it was really crunchy and not a texture I normally associate with artichokes from my limited past experience.

Scottish salmon en vessie, green asparagus with ginger and coriander nage - there was a lot of anticipation on my part about this course. The thought of having anything cooked inside a sheep's bladder just makes my mouth water, especially since I love most types of offal. But...in life one realizes that sometimes expectations and reality can turn out to be quite different.

I had expected that the interaction of the uric acid with the salmon to impart the distinctive flavor that one gets with dishes like andouillette, but there was none of it as Jeremy cut open the bladder. Later on I was told by the chef that they had tried very hard to scrub the interior of the bladder to get rid of the smell...AAARRRGGGHHH!!!!

In spite of all that, the resulting creation was really, really nice in its own right. The salmon was oh-so-tender, each bite melting away in my mouth. The julienned asparagus and the salmon sat in the coriander bouillon which matched the salmon perfectly, like an egg and parsley or yogurt dill sauce.

The sommelier started to pour the 1995 Armand Rousseau Chambertin into our glasses. Initially the nose was grassy and gamey with lots of sweet fruit, and it was nice and elegant. The wine was smooth on the palate but felt a little short. With time I detected some forest in the nose. With the second pour, you could now feel the concentration of the wine, which was still a little tannic on the finish. This was much, much better than the last bottle I had 3 1/2 years ago, and a perfect match with the gamey dishes that followed.

Smoked Vendéen pigeon, vegetables pot au feu in borscht consommé - what an amazing dish. I think we all loved our pigeons... Of course we asked for it to be "pink", therefore the meat was soooooo tender. As I pick up the Laguiole Grand Cru knife to cut into the meat, a bit of the bloody jus would drip into the consommé and I would watch the gradual mixing of the two like I'm studying fluid mechanics. Every few mouthful I would dab a bit of the sour cream for a different taste. This has got to be the best pigeon I've had in quite some time... My compliments to Chef Vincent.

Jarret de porc en andouillette, pomme purée truffe, salad composé - this was yet another highly-anticipated dish. A couple of us are big fans of andouillette, and finding some in this part of the world is no easy task! As we had received the menu a couple of weeks before dinner, I was scratching my head trying to figure out why this would still be called andouillette if the stuffing was actually pork knuckle instead of intestine...

Well as it turns out, the chef took a pork knuckle and removed the bone and the meat so that only the skin remains. The interior layer of the skin is then removed, leaving only a thin, outer layer. The meat of the pork knuckle is then chopped up together with pig intestine (which means it is real andouillette) and black truffle, then stuffed back inside the skin before frying.

Once I got the distinctive taste of the intenstine along with the knuckle meat, I was in heaven. Fried pig skin is always welcome, and let's not forget the sinful, perfumed creamy mash potatoes with black truffle...

The maître fromager cheese selection consisted of three very distinct types of cheese, each paired with a different wine. I was having flashback to the cheese dinner from two weeks ago...

Anneau du Vic-Bihl - a donut-shaped goat cheese from the Pyrénées area just north of Spain. Really yummy with powerful, nutty flavors that leaves a fragrance in your mouth. Good balance between salt and acidity. Jeremy made sure that the cheese has ripened to perfection, and it's just really runny and stringy...
2006 Vincent Pinard Sancerre Cuvée Florès - very fruity and surprising for a Sancerre, with notes of apricot, Anjou pear which gives that slightly oxidized, mineral and metallic nose. Not really sweet on the palate, with a little ripeness and a long, crisp finish. Pretty powerful stuff. Excellent pairing.

Comté - there really isn't anything left to say about this wonderful, 4-year old cheese...
1996 Rolet Arbois Blanc - instead of pairing the Comté with the usual vin jaune from the Jura, another style of wine from the same region was offered. Very distinctive nose, lots of toasty notes like a Japanese mugicha (麦茶) or genmaicha (玄米茶). The oxidation was also very evident, like sherry.

Fourme d'Ambert - a strong, classic blue cheese from Auvergne that's pretty salty, like many other blues. Interestingly the cheese is supposedly periodically injected with Vouvray moelleux - the mild sweet wine from Loire - during the aging process. So why is it still so salty...?
2006 Lunzer Golser Strohwein Vin de Paille Cabernet Sauvignon - this is an interesting, sweet red from the Burgenland region of Austria. Very fruity and grapy, the wine is very sweet and balances out the strong, salty taste of the cheese. Like all vins de paille, the grapes were laid out on straw to draw out the moisture and intensify the flavors. The small production of 380 liters for the vintage meant that there are only around 700 bottles in existence...

Finally we have the dark chocolate sphere, marinated raspberries with sablé Breton and mint ice cream. It's a treat watching the hot chocolate sauce being poured into the sphere, then wait as the outer shell gets melted and the sauce starts to ooze out onto the plate. You can't get a more classic blend of flavors than chocolate, raspberries and mint. I must say that the raspberries tasted much better than the ones I usually get...

What a wonderful experience! Naturally the chefs deserve credit for the wonderful creations we enjoyed today. But clearly additional credit go to both our sommelier as well as our maître d', as the wine and cheese pairings were once again superb! There is no doubt that Caprice is at the top of the game here in Hong Kong.

It's not everyday that you get to stroll back to the office at 5pm after lunch... Needless to say it wasn't such a productive day for me at work... Oh and I need to stop having these bull market meals... Time to wake up to reality!

HK Chowdown episode 1: a downmarket start

Pin It

Tonight a group of Chowhounds met up for dinner. I had never met any of my fellow diners in person before, but we have all come across each other in cyberspace, and we all have one thing in common: our love of food. We gathered at the Shanghai Fraternity Association (上海總會) where some local hounds met up with fellow hounds from Singapore and Toronto.

Once again I was thankful for not having had to order the food. The downside of being a foodie - and having grown up with a Shanghainese grandma - is that you are expected to know what to order at Shanghainese restaurants. Fortunately the responsibility fell to our organizer for the evening. I always find it interesting to see how many of the dishes ordered by others would actually be the same ones that I would have ordered myself...

We started with a number of appetizers, and actually had to cancel one or two for fear of over-ordering.

Malantou (馬蘭頭, chopped Indian aster and tofu) - I thought it would be interesting to introduce this dish to people who aren't Shanghainese, as it's really not easy to find this outside of Hong Kong. The flavors are so distinctive and refreshing.

Smoked duck egg (薰蛋) - halved with wonderful yolk, the smoky flavor was a bit lighter than I would have preferred. But it's been a while since I've had this so I was pretty happy.

Pig trotter jelly (肴肉) - this was pretty good since it's not as salty. The trotter meat was delicious and there was enough gelatin to make the texture interesting.

Drunken pigeon (醉鴿) - very nicely done here, both in terms of the presentation as well as the taste. The meat was very tender, and the taste of the Huadiao (花雕) wine was good without being overwhelming.

Strange flavor chicken (怪味雞) - spicy and very much atypical in terms of Shanghainese tastes.

Stir-fried freshwater shrimp (清炒蝦仁) - the shrimps were medium-sized and not as small as some of the ones you'd find at other restaurants, but it was still nicely done.

Honey-soaked ham (蜜汁火腿) - now this is something I haven't had for ages! The slice of ham was paired with a piece of deep-fried tofu skin, then sandwiched between the two halves of a steamed bun. Not bad at all. We should probably have had left the plate on the table, so that I could dip the bun into the sweet and sticky syrup...

Stir-fried freshwater eel (炒鱓糊) - the classic Shanghainese dish where the eel is shredded and stir-fried with yellowed garlic chives (韭黃).

Fish fillet in rice wine (糟溜魚片) - one of my favorite fish courses in Shanghainese cuisine, this is prepared with lots of starch (which both coats the slices of fish and makes up the sauce) and some Chinese wine. The accompanying jelly ear fungus (黑木耳) adds a contrasting texture to the fish.

Stir-fried crab with rice cake and edamame (毛豆年糕炒蟹) - the sweet taste of the sauce and the sweet crab went very well together.

Raw-fried buns (生煎包) - a nice way to finish the meal, and I couldn't resist having two of these...

For dessert we had the usual glutinous rice balls in fermented rice wine (酒釀丸子), and much to my surprise my stomach wasn't on the verge of bursting. I think our host ordered very well.

I did bring along a couple of bottles of wine, but we only managed to consume two of these... A weak performance from this crew, I must say！

2002 Kongsgaard VioRus at first wasn't exactly what I expected. A hint of petrol, with minerals, oxidation, toasty oak and floral notes. Ripe and sweet on the nose as well as on the palate, the alcohol level was perceptibly high.

1999 Selbach-Oster Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese - huge nose of plastic, acetone and petrol masking any fruity notes. Reasonably sweet on the palate but with good balance of acidity and a hint of carbonation dancing on the tongue.

We bid farewell to each other at the end of a good meal, knowing that some of us would see each other for a highly-anticipated lunch in two days' time...

P.S.
After dinner I joined my house guest and my favorite food columnist at Nino's Cozinha, who (unbeknownst to me) actually know each other. Upon sitting down, I was force-fed some of the delicious arroz de pato, frango assado com piri piri and some tripe with chickpeas. As if I needed more food in my stomach... but I must admit that they all tasted pretty good, especially that piri piri chicken!

You're fired!

Pin It

Four weeks after the last Lunch Club meeting, we reconvene for our first Indian food outing. I would have never thought about going to Jashan, since at first glance the sign downstairs doesn't look that impressive. But our fake Indian member insisted that they serve good food. And the place did garner a Bib Gourmand rating from the people at Michelin...although I have to say that a couple of places on that list looked dubious.

We forgo the economical lunch buffet and order a la carte instead. Before he started ordering , we specifically told our fake Indian friend that he should order well, and that he'd be fired from Lunch Club if he ended up ordering the same dishes that tourists like us would. Well, out of the five dishes he rattled off I could have ordered three of them in my sleep...

Murgh tikka - HELLO?! Any bozo can order this dish on their own including me. But all kidding aside, it's classic because it is just so good. Tender chicken marinated in spices and yogurt, then stuck in a tandoori oven and served on a hot plate. Yum!

Goan fish curry - this was one of the winners. I normally don't have fish curries at Indian restaurants, but I must admit that this was pretty good. Maybe it is because the sweetness on the palate.

Dhansak - another pleasant discovery, this is chicken cooked in lentils and pumpkin. The texture is pretty interesting, and one of the few times I actually liked something cooked with lentils.

Palak paneer - the typical cottage cheese cooked in spinach. I love the way spinach is cooked in Indian cuisine into a soft paste.

Together with the basmati rice and a garlic naan, the food was pretty filling. We had to have dessert, of course. We order the gulab jamun, ras malal and kesari kulfi. I'm only somewhat happy with the sweet gulab jamun...

I have to say that the food was pretty decent. It's been a while since I've had Indian, and I'm happy to have found another restaurant I can go to.

By the way Mr. Fake Indian, you're sooooo fired from Lunch Club... Just kidding.

A hearty meal for two

Pin It

This was the last night that my friend would be in town, and I promised to take him to a Hong Kong institution - Sheung Hing Chiu Chow Restaurant (尚興潮州飯店). It's a well-known, local place (read: no decor nor service) which serves up simple and homey Chiuchow fare, together with some expensive seafood items.

We sat down on the ground floor at one of the three locations which are next to each other (No. 37), in full view of the chopping station. A couple of geese and a bunch of large crabs hung on the racks in front of the window, awaiting clients' orders.

We started with a cold crab (凍蟹) - one of the signatures of this place. We didn't get one of the big ones hanging in the window, since it wouldn't have made sense for the two of us. The captain was kind enough to persuade the guys at the chopping station to produce a smaller crab for us at half the price. A very straight forward dish - fresh seafood served cold so the texture and the sweetness of the flesh is just perfect. I didn't need to use the dipping sauce.

You can't come to a Chiuchow place without having some marinated mixed platter (鹵水拼盤). The goose was so-so today, with some pieces being a bit tough. The tofu was not bad - the skin was nice as it had been deep-fried before - but it was too salty from soaking up the soy sauce on the plate.

The big bowl of prawns with dishrag gourd (水瓜煮蝦) was very delicious. I never realized that there was a variant of my favorite ridged gourd (絲瓜), which is just as yummy. It's cooked in soup with minced pork and glass vermicelli along with some large prawns. The overall taste if very nice, and the addition of minced pork with the seafood seems like the classic Chiuchow touch.

One of the comments I had read online mentioned that this place doesn't know how to do fried oyster pancake (煎蠔餅) right, and I have to agree. It was simply too greasy and soggy. As soon as I had some of this, my stomach felt like it hit a brick wall and I felt really, really full. I wish it was more crispy and didn't soak up as much grease...

Despite being pretty full by this point, I decided to have some crispy pan-fried noodles (糖醋麵). The portion was HUGE. I guess since they want to charge HKD 50 and there's nothing but plain noodles (they throw in the vinegar and sugar for free), they need to make sure there's enough of it.... The noodle comes out in a giant "cake" and one side is crispy. Sprinkle some sugar and with a few drops of vinegar, you've got a pretty yummy product. I packed most of the noodles into a doggie bag so it won't go to waste.

Just when we thought we could fit nothing more into our stomachs, the waitress brought us bowls of mung bean soup (綠豆爽) as we were paying the bill. The husks have been removed so only the centers were used. Pretty decent.

Food was pretty good, but there were definitely some misses. Maybe I do need to come back with some friends with deep pockets to try the high-end dishes. Then I'll be able to judge whether it's worthwhile to spend money here. Service was non-existent as expected, but happily none of the staff was rude to us and chose to shout at each other instead. In fact the captain was pretty friendly to us, and gave us their business card so we could call ahead to book tables next time. Maybe I will...

Revisiting an old friend

Pin It

Tonight was the much-delayed gathering of a group of bankers, all of whom worked together more than 10 years ago, at a beloved institution which sadly no longer exists. As "round table Chinese" was requested I made a reservation at Liu Yuan Pavilion (留園雅敍) - an old favorite of mine that I've neglected for quite a while. A bit of Shanghainese would be a welcome change from all the Cantonese that I've been having this month.

I didn't have to do the ordering, so I just sat back and enjoyed as the food kept coming through the door. We started with a quartet of appetizers:
vegetarian goose (素鵝, deep-fried tofu skin), kaofu (烤麩, another tofu variant) with mushrooms, celtuce stem slices (萵筍) and deep-fried freshwater eel (炸鱔魚). These are all comfort food for me, and things that I'd order at any Shanghainese meal.

There was a request for smoked chicken (燻雞) so we ordered one. I thought it was deliciously sweet while the smoky flavors were kinda nice.

The crab stir-fried with egg yolk and rice crispies (蛋黃鍋巴炒蟹) was really nice. The crab was covered with a layer of salty, mushy egg yolk, as were the blocks of rice crispies. This is a very classic Shanghainese preparation.

We had a large pot of chicken soup with wontons (雞湯餛飩) - again a classic Shanghainese dish. I liked the wontons because they were a bit different - flatter than normal and a bit like the Taiwanese variety (扁食).

I ate very little of the sweet and sour fish (松子魚) because it really isn't my favorite. I must admit that the execution here was pretty good, even though I always found the dish to be very "gweilo/angmo."  Instead I chose to save my stomach for some stir-fried leaf amaranth (清炒莧菜).

We then had a series of savory dim sums that loaded us up with carbs. First there was the deep-fried scallion cake (炸蔥油餅), which was of the chubby variety (instead of the flat, pancake-like variety.) This was deeped to be overly salty and therefore inedible, and was sent back to the kitchen.

We got some homestyle pancakes (家常薄餅) as replacement, which were much more to my tastes. 

There was also a basket of xiao long bao (小籠包, steamed pork buns). These looked really good, with the skins being very thin and the interior filled with natural juice from the pork. I said "looked really good" instead of "tasted really good" because I didn't have one. Someone (who shall remain nameless) decided to have two of these wonderful things, thereby depriving me of one in the process. Oh well...

The puff pastry stuffed with turnip (蘿蔔絲餅) was excellent. The exterior was perfectly crispy, while the shredded turnip inside were moist and not too salty.

The pan-fried potstickers (鍋貼) were pretty good, again with good amount of juice sealed inside.

I think the bunch of dim sums really put us over the edge, so that we were too stuffed to have dessert. But I was happy...and glad to have gone back "home."